A file management app innocently named Floppy Cloud, which contains a hidden emulator of the Nintendo NES and Super Nintendo, is now available in the App Store.

As pointed out by TouchArcade, its developer Kyle Hankinson has cunningly exploited the annual App Store shutdown to sneak Floppy Cloud onto Apple’s servers “moments before the iTunes freeze,” which started yesterday and ends on December 29.

Developers are unable to upload new code to the App Store during the iTunes freeze window so Floppy Cloud should be available on the App Store for a few days before Apple pulls it first thing in the morning on December 29. Read More

As TechCrunch reported this morning, the United States Patent & Trademark Office yesterday published a patent application for “Hand-held Video Game Platform Emulation” that Nintendo filed on June 23, 2014.

The invention describes software emulation of Nintendo’s popular mobile game consoles such as the Game Boy family on a variety of mobile devices, including smartphones and in other settings such as seat-back displays in airplanes and trains. Read More

GBA4iOS developer, Riley Testut, has posted an enlightening entry on his personal blog about the history of GBA4iOS. It delves into its humble beginnings up to its current status as a lame duck emulator waiting to be largely phased out post iOS 8.1.

Testut’s post is a fascinating read that explains not only the history of the uber-popular GameBoy Advanced emulator, but it also sheds some much-needed light on how the emulator was ever able to work on non-jailbroken devices in the first place. I highly recommend reading it. Read More

Although there is no iOS 8 jailbreak, there is still a way to add a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) emulator. Because Nintendo is missing the opportunity to make millions of dollars by releasing their games to the Apple App Store, people have turned to emulators for years. Since the iPhone was jailbreakable, it seems there was some way to play the old classics.

Thanks to a tip from @flawlessfox, whom you may recognize as one of the JailbreakCon organizers, we tested the SNES emulator “SiOS” and can confirm it works quite well, especially on the iPhone 6 Plus. Step inside for quick step-by-step instructions and you will be enjoying your favorite SNES games in about 5 minutes time. Yes, you read it correctly, there is no jailbreak required. Read More

In what is rather disappointing news for fans of iOS emulators, Nintendo of America has issued popular Gameboy Advance emulator GBA4iOS with a Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice.

As a result, the official GitHub website for the emulator has been taken offline until further notice, and in-app downloads of ROMs have been temporarily suspended. GBA4iOS creator Riley Testut confirmed the news on Twitter last night… Read More

A new IndieGoGo campaign created by Aws Jan wants to throw you back to the 1990s by turning your iPhone into a Game Boy using a silicone rubber game pad sleeve.

The G-PAD sleeve is intended for the GBA4iOS emulator that has been making its rounds in high schools across the world, as teenagers and young adults want to relive their childhoods by playing Game Boy games. What’s more convenient than playing from their iPhone? Read More

If you’re not a big fan of Game Boy Advanced, Game Boy Color and original Gameboy games, how about a similar iOS emulator that lets you play Nintendo DS titles, no jailbreak required whatsoever?

Enter NDS4iOS, now available to install through an over-the air download via the NDS4iOS website. This app has been available for ages, but not for non-jailbroken devices. Starting today, NDS4iOS supports both non-jailbroken and jailbroken iPhone and iPad devices, allowing you to play Nintendo DS ROMs though you’ll need to set your device’s date back to February 8, 2014 to install it properly… Read More

Following up last week’s run of webNES comes a new mobile Safari-based emulator that allows you to play old school games on your iOS device without jailbreaking. The site is called Ben Midi’s Gameboy, and as the name suggests, it lets you play Game Boy games in-browser.

Unlike webNES, however, there’s no way to add ROMs. This can be both a good and bad thing, depending on your preferences. It’s good in that you can start playing one of 13 pre-loaded Game Boy games in seconds, but bad in that you can’t add any games outside of those 13… Read More

Earlier this week, we told you that a big update for the popular emulator GBA4iOS was coming soon. The developers said that it would be launching today, February 19, and they have delivered on that promise. GBA4iOS 2.0 is now available for installation.

Among the many additions to the Game Boy emulator is iPad support, iOS 7 controller support and Dropbox integration. More importantly, the app is now much easier to install, as it does not require you to be jailbroken or to change your device’s date… Read More

A few days ago, Jeff posted about an awesome new website called webNES that allows iPhone and iPad users to play Nintendo games directly from Mobile Safari. But while the web-based emulator does not require jailbreaking your iOS device, that benefit is largely overshadowed by the sluggish performance of most games. Fortunately, in less than two days, gamers will have another great no-jailbreak alternative in GBA4iOS 2.0. Take a look… Read More

This is downright amazing. Somebody has put together a website that allows you to play NES ROMs directly from Mobile Safari, no jailbreak required. The website, which is called webNES, allows users to link a Dropbox account to load their favorite NES ROMs and play them right from the browser.

I’ve tested webNES with a handful of ROMs, and most of them play decently, but there is some definite choppiness and slowdown. The emulator features a built in soft-controller, and the games can be played in either portrait or landscape mode.

The great thing about webNES is that it runs totally in your browser. This means that there’s really no way for Apple to shut it down, since it doesn’t require any apps or downloads from a jailbreak source like Cydia. Check out our full video walkthrough inside as I show you how I play a few of my favorite NES games directly in Safari. Read More

At any given time, there are dozens (if not hundreds) of apps floating around the App Store with built-in ROM emulators. These apps are disguised as calculators and sketch pads, but feature the hidden ability to play old-school games.

And everyone once in a while we find out the name of one of these apps, and how to activate its secret feature, before Apple has the chance to pull it. And that just so happens to be the case with this newly-posted app called Earthquake 7… Read More

Fromtimeto time, various console emulators make their way into the App Store. Disguised as innocent looking apps, these submissions employ various tricks to escape the attention of Apple’s App Store review team. If you’re a fan of Nintendo’s old-school SNES console and such classics as Zelda, you can now download a SNES emulator from the App Store.

The program pretends to be a basic file manager that can connect to both Dropbox and FTP accounts. As it turns out, it can also open *.smc Super Nintendo ROM files and play them. Jump past the fold for the full reveal… Read More

At a high level, Slider Puzzle looks like a simple puzzle game. But it’s hiding a secret. Concealed underneath its unadorned surface sits a full-featured GBA/GBC emulator that allows you to play some of your favorite ROMS.

Now, this isn’t the first time an app like this has landed in the App Store. In fact, just last week we told you about an app with a hidden tethering feature. But we’re still talking about an emulator here, and it doesn’t require a jailbreak… Read More

Fans of legacy console video game systems rejoice! The well-known iOS emulator developer ZodTTD is back in action. Zod has been absent from the jailbreak scene for a while, but there’s been plenty of talk of him coming back to update N64iOS and other popular ports.

That speculation materialized last night, as the developer announced that he had created a Cydia repo where he would be posting public betas of his updated emulators. And he’s already seeded his first beta: gpSPhone v8.0.0, an emulator for Game Boy Advance ROMS… Read More

At first glance, there’s nothing suspicious about Awesome Baby Names, the innocently named $2 app for your iPhone which, as the name suggests, lets you create awesome baby names for your newborn child. On closer inspection, and provided you’re privy to a secret trick, developer Ian Jackson hid a Game Boy Advance emulator.

You can unlock it easily by employing a series of taps. Apple will no doubt remove this app as soon as its review team wakes up and finds out about the reports so download it now before it’s too late.

UPDATE: Wow, that was fast, Apple has just removed the app.

If you were quick enough to download it, your secret code is right after the break… Read More

A few days ago, we told you about PPSSPP — the first PSP emulator for iOS. While the initial screens and video looked promising, at the time, the frame-rate was really low due to some technical issues. Now, it appears that those technical issues — the lack of JIT compiling — have been ironed out, as new video has surfaced showing PPSSPP playing Wipeout pure at a buttery smooth 60 frames per second.

Check out the video above, which showcases Wipeout Pure running at a silky smooth rate. Again, thanks to our friends for the heads up. Again, be sure to visit the official PPSSPP website for more information.

PPSSPP is a PSP emulator that looks quite amazing. Yes, the framerate is slow, but that’s to be expected for an early build of a hardware emulator. The fact that this is running a PSP game (Wipeout Pure), and it looks almost exactly like it does on the PSP, is pretty incredible.

According to the audible YouTube commentary, the emulator is running so slow, because it’s using interpreter instead of Just In Time compilation (JIT), which would increase performance significantly. If the developer, Henrik Rydgard of Dolphin Emulator fame, and the rest of the development community can solve this issue, then we’ll have a pretty solid PSP emulator on our hands. Read More

If you’re an avid retro gamer like myself, you probably snagged the $1.99 preview build of n64iOS on Cydia, hoping to enjoy classic titles. Unfortunately, in it’s current state, the N64 emulator for iOS is more of a tech demo than a working emulator. Although games run at near-playable speeds on hardware as old as the iPhone 4, the many graphical glitches combined with the jumbled control scheme make most games unplayable.

Shortly after the emulator was last updated in May, ZodTTD posted on Twitter that there would be an update which would revamp the entire UI, including the ROM manager and the wonky controls. Since then, there has been no new release of n64iOS. That may be changing soon: According to a recent conversation with Will Strafach, ZodTTD is once again working on n64iOS. Read More